I hope you guys will enjoy this little attempt at a Celestial Forge Story. hopefully, I did it right

Blaze Romanov was a peculiar person, Willow Schnee reckoned.

At first, she thought he was just another typical student of Atlas Academy's general branch; arrogant, prideful, condescending, or something along those lines. After all, being one of the few academies that the high society of Atlas often picks for their children to apply to, there were bound to be 'young masters' stereotypes involved.

…though, upon further thinking, Blaze was not your usual general branch student in the first place.

Willow heard that the boy enrollment wasn't like most of her classmates (that was of course involving connections and a lot of money). Blaze wasn't a citizen of Atlas proper. Instead, he was from Mantle, the slum of this kingdom. he was one of the few people who got a scholarship that wasn't from Alsius.

an orphan with unknown parents who got lucky, growing up in the slum of the kingdom, and made his way to the cusp of modern-day nobles through his mind alone. An ivy among the grass….

Willow glanced from her seat where her fellow female classmates were gossiping about their inane, high-society life, to the corner of the room where a boy with vibrant red hair was busy playing with his scroll. then, one of the students approached and talked with him. Willow watched discreetly as they interacted (the girls around her were too busy in their gossiping that they rarely noticed when she withdrew from their discussion).

Romanov wasn't part of any clique in the class. hell, his few other scholarship peers didn't interact much with him. often, they were afraid of unexpected reprisal from a certain group for associating with him. Truly, the black sheep of the class.

Speaking of being a black sheep…

In the corner of her vision, Willow spotted a group of boys huddled together whispering and plotting. She recognized one of them. he was the son of an up-and-coming businessman (then, by association, the rest of his group were kids of a similar caste). She didn't know what exactly, but she knew that his father was one of those people who keep sucking up to her father whenever they meet at an event.

The boy kept glancing at Romanov, malice visible in his grey eyes. She didn't know what they were planning—obviously nothing good. So, when the boy made his way to Romanov—

"Romanov, did you finish the book I gave you?" Willow asked loudly as she stood up, catching everyone's attention at the almost empty classroom.

her seat was quite away from him so it was natural for her to raise her voice slightly. Romanov perked up and turned to her while the approaching boy quickly hid his scowl and returned to his little group.

"Ah, almost almost. I think I'll finished by tonight," Romanov said before smiling at her, "gotta say, it's kinda surprising you're into light novel, Willow. I thought you'd be more into something like that vampire story, Dusk If I remember correctly."

Growing up among politicians and businessmen, Willow had developed some skills that allowed her to notice what type of smile someone wore on their face. She had grown accustomed to the plastic, double-faced smiles everyone wore around her and her father. Smiles that promised hidden agendas and were full of secrets. Yet, Romanov's smile was a bit peculiar—a different type of smile that she rarely saw; a genuine smile.

Romanov was a boy who wore his emotion on his sleeves. If he didn't like something, he scowls. If he enjoying something, he smiles. It was different than his peers' muted expression. He didn't have to fear something like tarnishing his family's reputation because of how his face curled in the wrong way. It was… refreshing to see.

He thought she was into smut? Was he stupid? "hmph, I'll let you know, Romanov. A girl of my stature has more refined taste than a gormless love novel between a human and a vampire." She crossed her arms, tilting her head up slightly, "You shouldn't be quick to judge someone's taste, lest someone take that as an insult."

"Sorry sorry!" Romanov sheepishly grinned, lifting his hand to a peace sign.

"So long as you understand."

Willow decided that she had intervened enough and returned to her seat, ignoring the stare she got from the rest of her classmates. One particular stare was quite heated, unsurprisingly, it came from the boy from earlier. his group also glancing back from Romanov and her, visibly annoyed.

What? Did they think she would let them ruin what little semblance of peace she had in this class filled with uppity children? Of course not! Romanov was a breath of fresh air among these… suck-ups and boot lickers. Unlike them, whatever interaction between her and him was genuine; both genuinely frustrating and enjoyable. He wasn't afraid to call her out if she did something he didn't agree with, unlike her other peers who cowed by her reputation as the heiress of the Schnee family.

It was surprising at first, but over time Willow started to appreciate Romanov's honesty…

A hand clasped her shoulder, she turned her head and met Romanov's gaze. Wha-?! Why was he this close?! They were just a few inches apart! Her heart—

"Willow, there's a booger peeking out of your nose—it's quite big too, I can see it from my seat!" He 'generously' whispered to her.

Willow just grunted; her red face went unnoticed as Romanov went back to his seat.

…but truly, sometimes his honesty was a bit vexing…

Bells above the door buzzed, signaling the end of the current subject and the start of the break. While his classmates were trickling out of the room, Blaze stayed, his amber eyes locked to the screen of his scroll.

why he was so focused on the device, you ask? Well, you see, a few days ago, while he was surfing the net, there was an app that installed itself on his scroll. he had thought it was a virus or something, but after asking one of his friends who knew more than him in coding and stuff, the verdict was it was nothing.

And by nothing, he meant, absolutely 'nothing.' No matter how hard they looked, the app was non-existent on his device. No background process, no expertly hidden signal being cleverly concealed—hell, the app didn't even have size, not one bit!

it stumped him. how did he get it? he didn't touch any funny links or even browse at places he shouldn't be. all he did was check on the latest issue of Artmory and boom, suddenly he got some strange 'Nullware' as his friend put it.

He was still wary of it turning to be anything but null, though. That was why he didn't access anything besides scrolling through his gallery. Hah, not like there was something worth stealing from him!

Blaze was scrolling through the strange, empty menu of the app when someone was approaching his desk. It was Willow, one of his few friends in this school. Turns out that not being from Atlas was an issue with most people. he wanted to say it was surprising, but it wasn't…

"everyone's already out, Romanov, be quick or you'll be late for lunch." Willow lightly reprimanded, "…You've been staring at your scroll since this morning. Is there something wrong with it?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out," he admitted. Scrolling and opening tabs in the app, he continued, "My phone caught something while I was browsing the net a few days ago. still wondering what it is."

"…you sure it wasn't malware of some kind?" Willow asked with a frown, "I heard people stumbled upon... Ransomware these days. you sure you didn't have one too?"

"My more tech-savvy friend checked the scroll for me," Blaze shook his head, "nope, nothing. Whoever the creator is, they didn't leave any footprints inside the app. Hell, it's practically 'nothing' in my system."

Willow turned thoughtful. She then opened her mouth, but whatever she wanted to say was cut off by a beep from Blaze's scroll. their eyes were drawn to the screen, where two texts suddenly appeared.

Perk:

- Hoarder's Eyes.

- Librarian.

"Huh?" Blaze quirked an eyebrow, "Perk?"

"Hoarder's Eyes, Librarian…" Willow hummed in wonder before shaking her head, "Whatever. you can worry about whatever this is later, Romanov. we need to go before break finished."

"Sure. let's go, " Blaze folded and pocketed his scroll. he stretched, "Man, Mr. Philip's class is still boring as ever, huh?"

"You said that only because you have zero interest in Societal Study. Come on, we're already late as is." Willow said and led the boy out of the classroom.

"Sure, lead the way, princess," Blaze said with a small shrug, the nickname caused Willow's feature to scrunched.

"Please don't call me that…"

◆◆◆◆XXX◆◆◆◆

As they walked the halls of Atlas Academy, Blaze had his eyes roaming around its pristine structure. It was still as mesmerizing as the first time he saw them. White marble, rich brown wood, and royal blue carpets projected an elite, high-class image. Very different than his friends' school down in Mantle.

His eyes were then drawn to the garden outside, the heart of the Atlas Academy General Branch. he spotted some students mingling about the place, socializing or even studying.

Atlas Academy's general branch was, just as its name implied, where non-huntsmen students of Atlas Academy studied. Atlas Academy was separated into two branches ever since General Ironwood became its headmaster; Alsius, the huntsmen branch; and Doctrina, the general or civilian branch. They were still part of Atlas Academy, but students of Doctrina didn't get military or offensive training unless they wanted to move to Alsius. The general branch was rather new—he and Willow were its third-generation students.

Oh, it was also more colorful than the huntsmen branch if what he heard was right. white and brown sound nicer than the shades of grey Alsius had.

The general branch also had more looser dress code than the huntsmen branch, which was also a plus!

Sometimes he wondered, if people back in Mantle had a similar academy built there, would it be still this pristine or would it be marred with gang signs and graffiti?

His sight returned forward and immediately locked at someone at the intersection of the hall. it was a lanky old man, one of the janitors of the academy, Mr. Obadiah, if he remembered correctly.

He was struggling with what looked like a high-tech-looking vacuum cleaner. Blaze was familiar with the machine, after all, he sometimes saw it at the dump hill he worked on the side. it was quite new but had a design flaw where it easily overheated rather quickly. Oh, it also had a very 'futuristic' interface that made it hard for old folks to acclimate to. hell, some young people (like him) also barely understood what button does what.

Although… it seemed it wasn't the case now…

He and Willow stopped briefly, and Blaze helped the old janitor operate the device. Somehow, he knew how to turn on and off and operate a bit of the thing now (just enough to clean and not do whatever other thing this thing advertised for.) Mr. Obadiah thanked him and the two students continued their walk to the cafeteria.

"I'm surprised you know how to operate that… thing." Willow commented as they reached their destination, "Even Klein is at a loss most of the time with how complicated that device is."

"…I just know about it, I guess?" he shrugged.

He still wondered how he knew how to operate the vacuum cleaner until school ended.

Lying down on his bed, Blaze once again opened the app. He stared as he wondered about what happened in the hallway this morning. Turns out, it wasn't the last time it happened. This afternoon, while working, as he gazed at Treasure Hill where junks from Atlas gathered, an influx of information suddenly rammed into his head. Knowledge of what devices and how to use them suddenly came to his mind, making him slightly lightheaded.

Some devices he was familiar with and others were things he never even saw but somehow, he knew how to use them and what they did. The knowledge was rather simple though. No in-depth know-how, only basic abridged directions on how to use them.

He knew whatever happened was because of this app. A strange app came out of nowhere and suddenly he knew things he shouldn't have.

So, he opened the 'Perk' tab of the app. He stared at the culprit with an intense gaze, trying to understand what it does beyond 'giving you perks via Roll'. The app itself has no name, but with his new… power, he now knows it was called 'Celestial Forge'

'Hoarder's Eyes' (he had an inkling of what the Librarian does, probably something related to books). He scrolled down and up, tabs were opened and closed. He looked for something, anything that could explain whatever the heck happened. He continued his search, that was until he spotted it.

'Points: 200' with a 'Roll' button under it.

He was hesitant. If this app was truly the culprit of his new ability, then he wasn't sure if he wanted to find out whatever else it could do.

For hours he debated with himself. He considered telling Willow or any of his friends, but he wasn't sure what words he could use to not paint him as some sort of lunatic. He ruminated until, in the end, he decided to bite down his doubt and pressed the button.

Rolling…

Blaze gulped, pressing his curled left hand to his mouth—

Real Research (Lords of the Night - Zombies) (200) – success…

Point: 200 → 0

—sharp pain struck his brain as an influx of knowledge entered his mind. whatever happened, had given him an understanding of things he never expected. Death, undeath, necromancy, things that sound too fantastical, stuff that only he saw in books he read.

Then, as the pain receded and the knowledge settled, he began to feel it. the sense of suffocation on a primal level, like something was pressing against his soul. It felt hard to breathe.

He rose and went to grab a bottle of water by the window, but the view outside killed his thirst.

A dark purple haze blanketed the world outside, though passersby seemed oblivious. Normally, he would freak out, but his new knowledge given by the app filled in the blanks, giving him an understanding.

"Negative Energy…" he murmured in part awe and horror.

it was a horrifying sight yet he couldn't tear his gaze away. all this negative energy, it was as if everything surrounding the orphanage he lived in was covered by a nasty colored fog, fog that normal people couldn't see or feel…

"…does… does this how Grimm sees things? Is that why they're quick to find any people with a bit of negativity?"

If this miasma was visible to them, then it answered how they could spot even a well-hidden huntsman at the slightest bit of fear. Especially with how the miasma seemed to flow out of someone with negative emotion (an observation thanks to a drunk man puking his gut across the street).

He shook the idea off his head before thinking about how to act naturally with this miasma clouding the world. did he have to live with a purple tint in his vision for the rest of his life now?

Actually…

Blaze closed his eyes, pulling out a certain idea from his new pool of knowledge, and then opened it. the dark miasma was gone, but the feeling of suffocation remained. It seemed he had to be content on able to feel the Negative Energy around him from now on…

But on a side note…

Blaze raised a hand, then with a thought, a sinister purplish flame flickered into existence. His other hand reached the fire. instead of heat, he felt… cold, disturbingly so. No, calling it fire was misleading.

It wasn't fire, it didn't produce heat nor did it glow, after all. Instead, it was a blob of negative energy. They were just so… shapeless that they took an almost flame-like shape when he gathered them.

He could do magic now… so, yay?

…

He just got an evil power, didn't he?

"Gods, all I wanted is to graduate and become an engineer, is it too much to ask?" Blaze groaned as he slumped on his bed. Right now, his heart is filled with complicated emotions.

On one hand, getting non-semblance power was exciting (a magic one at that!), but the… evilness of his power took much of the wind off that sail. He didn't know how to feel.

The feeling of suffocation certainly didn't help…

That night, Blaze dreamed of two titans.

It wasn't the first time he dreamed of them, nor would it be the last.

Yet, once woke up, he would remember another dream instead.

Point: 0 → 100

Perk:

- Hoarder's Eyes (Touhou Forbidden Hermit) (100CP)

You know the name and function of any object just by looking at it. Only that however, and the function is rather abridged, giving you a fairly brief overview of exactly what it does and nothing beyond that. You should probably try not to make any more assumptions beyond that.

- Librarian (Smash Up-Obligatory Cthulhu Supplement) (100CP)

You have a phenomenal memory and organizational skill, and a real gift for research. It's a rare day indeed where you can't find the information you need, or at least narrow it down to a single rare book.

-Real Research (Lords of the Night - Zombies) (200CP)

Improving the fundamentals is hard, unrewarding, and necessary. No number of new ninth-circle spells will change the world. Casting such creations is more art than science, and is limited to an elite few. Making a better Magic Missile can change the world.

You know how to improve things starting at the basics. You could figure out how to improve Magic Missile, a bit. And use that improvement to improve all first-circle force spells that throw the force effect. And from there improve all first circle force spells. And from there all second-level force spells... And so on.

You can share the products of your research, too. Some techniques might be easy, maybe a change to the spell itself. Others might be harder, techniques for maximizing what you get out of already built spells.

You could use this to improve anything you understand on a deep technical level.

The perk comes with deep technical knowledge of death, undeath, Negative Energy, and how tainted forces interact with the physical world, and how they can be manipulated to support dark spells and the raising of undead.